The Boxing State of Mind.

I have pretty much been a dedicated kickboxer the entire time I've been training in Martial Arts. Jun Fan Gung Fu, Kyokushin, Savate, are such styles that I pull from. Recently at my academy I began taking the boxing class it offers and found tho in many ways I could hold my own using just my hands just kept feeling incredibly awkward. How could I better get into the boxing state of mind for the class?

Kickboxers often think that boxing just means punching. I came from Muay Thai to boxing with nothing but a big right and got absolutely battered. It doesn't matter how hard you hit or how fast you are, until you actually focus on learning boxing you will get your ass kicked by boxers in boxing.

do you actually have any boxers at the class or is it all beginners/kickboxers?

"The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero projects his fear onto his opponent while the coward runs. 'Fear'. It's the same thing, but it's what you do with it that matters". - Cus D'Amato

Easy. Be part of the class. Learn the boxing for its own sake do not try to be a kickboxer.
It is different you will feel awkward. It is more comfortable to use what you allready know rather than learn something new but it will stop you getting the most out of the class that you are putting time and money into.

I have pretty much been a dedicated kickboxer the entire time I've been training in Martial Arts. Jun Fan Gung Fu, Kyokushin, Savate, are such styles that I pull from. Recently at my academy I began taking the boxing class it offers and found tho in many ways I could hold my own using just my hands just kept feeling incredibly awkward. How could I better get into the boxing state of mind for the class?

Think of it as Chess with Time and Dynamic Movement.

Consider Mike McCallum V Don Curry. Superb high defence from Curry to nullify McCallum. As Curry starts to dominate, he connects and McCallum heads for the canvas but brilliantly throws an instinctive long Right as Curry drops his guard to watch Mike fall - and gets KTFO.

Kickboxers often think that boxing just means punching. I came from Muay Thai to boxing with nothing but a big right and got absolutely battered. It doesn't matter how hard you hit or how fast you are, until you actually focus on learning boxing you will get your ass kicked by boxers in boxing.

do you actually have any boxers at the class or is it all beginners/kickboxers?

My academy holds a few pro and olympic boxers so we have a fair few people that are pretty much dedicated and well tempered boxers. Very few people in the class are low rate kickboxers, most have been doing strict boxing as long as they've been kickboxing. I've just always been used to used hands, feet, knees, etc so isolating hands has been a monster bitch. And yes my boxing itself is pretty crappy I have come to terms with this.

Forget all you know, or think you know about fighting, and just learn to box. Do exactly what your instructors teach you to do. Footwork is different and set ups are different in boxing. It is all designed to give you the strongest and cleanest punches possible while avoiding damage. It is different from all you have learned thus far, so treat it like you are actually trying to learn Kung Fu, it will not look or feel the same as what you know now, but to master it you must embrace it as it is, not your interpretation of it.

Lots more to good Boxing than just throwing punches. As everyone has pointed out.
That's why so many dummies who have had a few scraps in a parking lot think they can come into a Boxing Ring and compete at a high level, and soon find out otherwise.
Besides the mechanics of Boxing , you need to learn how to use the ring. Or what we used to call 'ring generalship'..because its different from kickboxing. Much different.
Listen to your coaches and you will be fine. But it won't come overnight just because you have done kickboxing.

" If one wants to have a friend one must also want to wage war for him: and to wage war one must be capable of being an enemy." - Fr. Nietzsche 'On The Friend' Thus Spake Zarathustra

so treat it like you are actually trying to learn Kung Fu, it will not look or feel the same as what you know now, but to master it you must embrace it as it is, not your interpretation of it.

Um.. what?

To learn boxing, treat it like you're learning kung fu? That's interesting, because just the other day I was learning kung fu and the instructor told me to pretend I was learning to fight.

"The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero projects his fear onto his opponent while the coward runs. 'Fear'. It's the same thing, but it's what you do with it that matters". - Cus D'Amato

Coming from a similar background to yourself, and now training purely in Boxing with a few fights behind me, I'd just say to you what I was told by my coach every time I got knocked about. "Forget you know anything" Just treat it as you did your first JKD lesson when you knew nothing and you were learning to crawl. JKD can help later on with rhythm and can make you more flexible. It can also be hard to be disciplined into using your hands only, I found I was worrying too much about where my feet were, looking for openings for kicks and so I'd drop my guard or get my range all screwed up when really a good boxer will be like a dancer and his feet will know what to do naturally and he can concentrate on his opponent. Though simpler I've found boxing to be the purest art I've ever studied, can totally see why Bruce Lee loved it.

Last edited by scottishsoldier; 9/15/2011 5:13pm at .
Reason: Being a mutant